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Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

The RingDex, from Dispense Works (McHenry, IL), is an affordable filling system with a unique modular design that can improve previously manual and tedious filling/capping operations. The RingDex allows quick changeovers for low- to medium-volume protection with a removable indexing ring and quick-release tooling to accommodate different size bottles, vials, caps, tips, etc.

Processing 1,200 tons of cassava roots a day, Chockyuenyong Industrial, headed by Tawatchai Yuenyong, uses Global Water Engineering (GWE) anaerobic technology, supplied by local GWE agent Retech Energy, with a capacity of 3,200 m3 effluent a day. The installation provides wastewater cleanliness while generating green power and carbon credit profits as well, says GWE CEO Jean Pierre Ombregt, whose company has completed more than 300 water and wastewater projects in more than 60 countries.

Businesses are ramping up to meet increasing demand and market opportunities in response to continued signs of economic improvement. Acquiring equipment to operate and grow is critical, and for smart businesses, equipment financing is a key acquisition strategy. Equipment financing is tailored to individual business considerations, including that of maintaining cash reserves.

Will man and machine actually merge at some point in the future? Some people think so, if only to compete in a increasingly technology-oriented world. Futurist Ray Kurzweil believes that corporations, as well as other large entities, will be created and destroyed based on whether or not they embrace the fusion of humanity and technology.

A lot of people like to do a little "home-grown" science, but Ben Krasnow takes that tendency to a whole new level with a homemade scanning electron microscope. The video is a little long, but the dedication and eye for precision are quite impressive, to say the least.
If you’re having trouble watching this video, try downloading the latest version of Flash Player or contacting your IT department.

DETROIT (AP) — United Auto Workers President Bob King on Tuesday criticized the nearly $60 million in stock awards given to Ford CEO Alan Mulally earlier this month.
King spoke at a union meeting that sets goals for bargaining a new labor contract with automakers later this year.
"I think Alan Mulally is a great CEO, but I don't think any human being in the world deserves that much money," King said at the opening of a three-day UAW convention in Detroit.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, who is currently out on medical leave, will be deposed to testify in an antitrust suit related to its iPod music players and iTunes store.
In a Monday filing in the U.S. district court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, Magistrate Judge Howard R.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A judge has temporarily halted California's ambitious program to provide financial incentives for the state's largest polluters to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith ruled Friday that the state failed to properly consider alternatives to its so-called cap-and-trade program.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Hammered by the auto industry's slump, Detroit saw its population plummet 25 percent over the past decade, according to census numbers released Tuesday that reflect the severity of an economic downturn in the only state where overall population declined.
The statistics show that the Motor City's population fell from 951,270 in 2000 to 713,777 last year.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. said Tuesday it will sell all of its series A preferred shares in Ally Financial Inc., its former finance arm which was bailed out by the federal government, for $1 billion.
The shares to be sold represent all of Ally's series A preferred stock outstanding, the automaker said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks climbed Monday on the strength of a major telecommunications deal and signs that that Japan's nuclear crisis was stabilizing.
AT&T Inc. said it would buy rival T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, creating the largest U.S. cellphone company. Charles Schwab Corp. said it would buy online brokerage services provider OptionsXpress for $1 billion.

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Co. on Monday is halting some production and temporarily laying off workers at a Buffalo engine plant, another sign that Japan's disaster is affecting automakers around the globe.
GM's Tonawanda plant in Buffalo, New York, makes four- and five-cylinder engines for the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickups, which are assembled at a GM plant in Shreveport, Louisiana.

On Monday, Boeing first flew its new 747-8 jumbo jet, which can hold up to 467 passengers and fly 8,000 nautical miles. The first video shows the four-engine beast lift into the air, and the second, of course, shows its successful landing back to the ground.
If you’re having trouble watching this video, try downloading the latest version of Flash Player or contacting your IT department.

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Because bomb-disarming robots cost about $140,000 apiece, Bernard Reger's superiors asked him to design a virtual training system that does not require using robots that might get blown up during an exercise or fall off a cliff.
The Army already marketed a computer war game, America's Army, as part of a recruiting campaign.

CAMBRIDGE CITY, Ind. (AP) — Officials blame grease that an organic food company is releasing into the sewer system for ruining equipment at an eastern Indiana town's treatment plant.
The Western Wayne Sewer District Board says the material from Really Cool Foods has been clogging pumps and damaging sewage equipment at the Cambridge City facility.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — New U.S. Forest Service standards for some firefighting helicopters could require contractors to spend as much as $50,000 per helicopter to upgrade the aircraft.
Some in the helicopter industry say the high cost of upgrades could reduce the number of helicopters in the "call-when-needed" pool come fire season.

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (AP) — Yasuhiko Konno stands next to a pile of debris that reaches over two stories high. He bows his head for a moment and takes a deep breath.
This was his sake brewery, one of the best in Japan, with a history that goes back hundreds of years. A week after he barely escaped a tsunami that flattened it and nearly everything else in sight, he's come back for the first time, and it takes him a second to collect his thoughts.

Surprise, surprise — Bill is back with a tear-down and explanation of how liquid crystal displays (LCDs) work. Chances are you're looking at one right now. The technology behind them — which involves diffusing light across the entire width and length of the screen, followed by unique polarizers and "sub-pixels" — is nothing short of incredible.

Shurter (Santa Rosa, CA) has announced the addition of the V-Lock cord retaining system for 10A and 16A appliance couplers and power entry modules. The V-Lock power cord provides a safe and reliable power connection that latches into the notched inlet to prevent accidental disconnection of the power from the equipment.